Sunday, August 19, 2007

Luck!
O Fortuna                           O Fortune,
velut luna like the moon
statu variabilis, you are changeable,
semper crescis ever waxing
aut decrescis; and waning;
vita detestabilis hateful life
nunc obdurat first oppresses
et tunc curat and then soothes
ludo mentis aciem, as fancy takes it;
egestatem, poverty
potestatem and power
dissolvit ut glaciem. it melts them like ice.

Sors immanis Fate - monstrous
et inanis, and empty,
rota tu volubilis, you whirling wheel,
status malus, you are malevolent,
vana salus well-being is vain
semper dissolubilis, and always fades to nothing,
obumbrata shadowed
et velata and veiled
michi quoque niteris; you plague me too;
nunc per ludum now through the game
dorsum nudum I bring my bare back
fero tui sceleris. to your villainy.

Sors salutis Fate is against me
et virtutis in health
michi nunc contraria, and virtue,
est affectus driven on
et defectus and weighted down,
semper in angaria. always enslaved.
Hac in hora So at this hour
sine mora without delay
corde pulsum tangite; pluck the vibrating strings;
quod per sortem since Fate
sternit fortem, strikes down the string man,
mecum omnes plangite! everyone weep with me!

Ever changing, luck can drive you crazy. One day you feel lucky, win prizes, bets, nothing seems to be able to stop you, the next day every little thing, from forgetting your wallet, to being arrested for driving without license, goes wrong.
Luck will always change, untamed. Some have more luck than others, just look around you. Isn't there a person that seems to have all the luck. Someone you've never seen anything bad happen to.
In balance there is people who seem to fight against luck itself. Everyday struggles to get to a destination without something bad happening.
Why is our lives tied to something so unpredictable? What to do then?
Nothing... live.
Try to flow with it. Seek harmony, and go beyond the problems of luck.
Luck, the very essence of the randomness in life.

Thursday, August 09, 2007

The Outer Triad
Our life takes us through many things. And even with many decisions to take, and things to balance in life, we still must keep up some principles.
But each person lives in different places, and therefore may have to live up to different principles.
But important things should be global. If possible, universal.
But then again, this will never be true. But I have my own principles. Some that I believe defines a person and one's worth.
After all. We are social beings, so we cannot live alone. But this requires us to have social rules that can guarantee a pacific life, without clashing about every little misunderstanding.
So what is important? To your life you must fight for your happiness, but so that you don't have to brawl with people you know, you must not interfere negatively in someone's life or even against their will. This is tricky, I know. Many moments in life you have to think ahead and see how your next decision, next action will affect the lives of people around you. Just so that we're clear on this, sometimes your decision may affect others, and when you choose not to hurt someone you get hurt, this case is where your decision is neutral, after all, the same ruling goes all ways.
Well, then lets start.
Honor. One of the oldest values in life. One each day more rare to see. People each day are less prone to stand by their word.
Dealing with honor is hard. Means to have respect to others, never back down on your word. This may not seem important, at least not much at first. But in the long run of your relationships, this is what can always be remembered and considered about yourself. A person that lives with honor is usually dependable, and people will know that.
Honor is very subtle thing. I goes from a variety of situations, like not attacking your enemy from the back.
Complicated, but still, a great virtue to balance.
You may think that honor is all it takes to balance socially, or even include this in what honor comprehends. But I feel that this has a meaning of its own, being specially important to have trust in the people close to you. Loyalty.
Loyalty is the greatest key to trust and depend on someone. When you are in danger, you will count in someone loyal to you, someone who does not wish your harm.
Loyalty comes in many ways. You may see the groups of jocks who band together always loyal. A friend who vows to never let a man come between you two or the people who will follow you through hell to help you accomplish your goals.
Balancing this means you are reliable. And of course, you can only expect people to be loyal to you if you are loyal to them, it's a two-way deal.
As any action taken has deeper ramifications than it appears, one should be more aware of his/her decision. What to choose? Good question. Most likely, whenever you had a decision to make you chose the least selfish decision, but, to make this clear, it was probably not a selfless decision.
People are in general, hummm...., kind. Kind meaning good, but not very good, just a bit towards good... nice. So when those people have to make a decision, they don't go upfront doing whatever pleases them most, they tend to think a bit about the people they care about before they do anything harsh.
Should one think about everyone in the world before a decision is taken? Yes... ideally. But of course this is impossible. So who should you think about? Well, there is no easy answer to this. But the simple form of thinking that should lead to the most balanced solutions is just be fair!
Fairness, this is tricky. You have to take a hard job to do this... become a judge. You have to look from the most points of view possible, than think about the consequences to anyone involved. And make a fair decision, even though someone important to you may dislike it.
Being fair will not make you more popular with your friends. But will improve your valor as a person. Siding with your friends, with the winning side, doing the easy thing, these kinds of decisions are easy to make, but probably will lead to destruction. Taking sides is socially important, but manifesting your point over other's lives should be done with extreme caution and fairness, after all you wouldn't want to deeply wound someone for your mild comfort, would you?
In the end, even if some people close to you dislike your fair decision, true friends and those capable of understanding, will know that your decision was for a greater good.
Honor, Loyalty & Fairness. Three values in life that should be balanced, for the sake of your social life and the peace among mankind.